What’s going on between Brett Cooper and Candace Owens?

Brett Cooper, former host of The Comment Section on the Daily Wire, has sparked rumors after liking a controversial Instagram post by former colleague Candace Owens.

Speculation follows a clip from Piers Morgan Uncensored last month in which Owens accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being a war criminal with “genocidal ambitions.” Owens told Morgan, “I want to use my platform to say that I believe they are intentionally executing a holocaust.”

Cooper liking Owens’s post raised questions: does Cooper agree with Owens’s take on the war in Gaza? Could this be tied to her departure from the Daily Wire? And does she plan to collaborate with Owens moving forward?

“I like many of my friend’s Instagram posts, because we are friends,” Cooper told Cockburn. “I’m unsure why liking my friend’s end-of-year post a month ago is international news.”

Cockburn asked whether Cooper’s like of Owens’s post was a reflection of a change in her stance on Gaza — or an act of post-Wire solidarity. “When a friend’s posts come across my feed, I like them. As friends do.”

While the details surrounding Cooper’s departure from the Wire remain unclear, speculation of Cooper joining Owens’s company is unfounded.

“I’m not joining anyone else’s company or network,” Cooper said. “I’m launching my new show independently, which was the whole point of my departure.” She set up a new YouTube channel under her name that already has over half a million subscribers, but has yet to post any content.

Cooper followed Owens through the exit door at the Wire last month, meaning 2024 saw the conservative media behemoth lose its two most high-profile female hosts. A glance at the Wire’s inauguration line-up makes this especially pronounced; its coverage will be hosted by the anchors of its show Daily Wire Backstage: Jeremy Boreing, Andrew Klavan, Michael Knowles, Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh, at least one of whom knows exactly what a woman is.

Hosting duties on The Comments Section was taken over by its producer, Reagan Conrad, after Cooper’s departure. “A year ago, Brett told me if she were to ever leave The Comments Section that Reagan should be her replacement,” Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing told Cockburn. “Six months later Brett said she wanted to leave, and I realized she was right. Reagan — in addition to being the producer of CS for two years — is a huge talent and a great choice to carry on the show.”

“I did not select Reagan,” said Cooper.

A spokesperson for Owens said, “Candace Owens is too pregnant to comment.”

Balls to the wall

Cockburn has just ambled up the National Mall to pick up his credentials for Monday’s inauguration, watching workers erect yet more fencing as he ran off his hangover. It seems that everyone and their mother is in town this weekend: all the grubby lobbyists, optimistic client states and nervous tech moguls are coming out of the woodwork to throw bashes for the incoming Trump administration.

Some highlights he’s most anticipating: the TikTok shindig on the day the nationwide ban is set to come into place; the joint event between Uber, X and the Free Press — could someone ask Elon to unsuspend Speccie contributor Jacqueline Sweet for doing journalism? — at the same time, and the MAHA Action Ball — imagine the menu. All the stars are here — a spy spotted Secret Service digging out a trench of snow in front of the Alexandria courthouse yesterday so Vice President-elect J.D. Vance didn’t have to hop the curb. Meanwhile dozens of hip-hop acts and country stars have been booked, from Dierks Bentley and Jason Aldean to Waka Flocka Flame and Snoop Dogg.

There is a lot to cover — so Cockburn’s paymasters at The Spectator have ordered him to produce a special, events-centric inauguration edition for later this weekend. Keep an eye out for it Monday morning — and sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Say cheese, Madam Vice President!

The coronavirus, a historic Supreme Court nominee and… Kamala Harris losing to Donald Trump. These topics share little in common other than that they took place during President Biden’s time in the White House — and his team shared a series of exclusive photos with People magazine from his time running the free world.

One picture stood out like a red dress worn by Dr. Jill Biden on Election Day: a photo of Vice President Kamala Harris on her way to certify her own election loss.

It’s hard to see this as anything other than the latest dig in the shadow war being waged by the Biden, Harris, Obama, Clinton and Pelosi camps against each other in recent weeks. Since Trump’s comeback win, the Democratic Party has figured out where the blame lies. The Bidens, for their part, are aiming much of their fire at Democrats from California.

Jill Biden had an all-but friend break-up with Nancy Pelosi, venting in an interview that she expected more from the former speaker of the House after their decades of friendship. Pelosi reportedly played a key role in ousting Biden as the Democrats’ nominee.

Is this Harris photo one of the Bidens’ final in-office dunks at the president’s number two? It’s tough to say. Perhaps Harris will strike back at her boss when she releases her heavily anticipated tell-all book in a few months…

Paint job

The Palisades fire has reportedly claimed almost 200 works of “art” by Hunter Biden, which were held in storage by Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris. Morris had purchased several pieces of Hunter’s artwork, valued at a total of $875,000, through the Berges Gallery. The New York Post reports that a source close to the Biden family has claimed the collection is worth “millions of dollars.”

Now, however, the ashes that were once Hunter’s works are worth $0, the precise amount Cockburn would have been willing to pay before the fire.

Many have speculated that these paintings were purchased as a way to gain the favor of the Biden family. According to the Post, “Hunter’s art pieces have been priced as high as $500,000 each,” though art dealer Georges Berges, who stopped representing Hunter in 2024, noted to the publication that “the average price was closer to $85,000.”

With President Biden’s term sunsetting on Monday, though, it will be interesting to see how much the remaining works of art will go for. The New York Times wondered in what is now, in light of Hunter’s pardon from his dad, irrelevant, if “Mr. Biden, fifty-four, would be able to paint if imprisoned on the gun and tax crimes for which he was convicted.”

Perhaps the president will hang a gallery of his son’s remaining paintings on his refrigerator — right next to his favorite chocolate-chip ice cream.

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